Cliff Davies, an Oxford historian, says that practically no one who lived during the so-called Tudor era — Henry VII to Elizabeth 1 (but most famously Henry VIII) — used that phrase:

“The word ‘Tudor’ is used obsessively by historians,” says Dr Davies. “But it was almost unknown at the time.”

David Hume, says Davies, played a key role in introducing the phrase into popular usage (in the 1700s), and it immediately proved “seductive,” Davies says, to people who find it useful (thematically and mnemonically) to divide history into clearly distinct periods.

Davies argues that “text-book writers and makers of period dramas should re-think their terminology, as he says that talking about ‘Tudor men and women’ introduces an artificial concept which would have had no contemporary resonance.” …

Biographies

Gary Rosen is the editor of Review and the former managing editor of Commentary magazine. His articles and reviews have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times. He is the author of "American Compact: James Madison and the Problem of Founding" and the editor of "The Right War? The Conservative Debate on Iraq."